Rosher.Net

Thought for the Week – for Thursday 10th June

“But being a Druid is just about rave parties at Stonehenge, wacky baccy and free sex, isn’t it?” I sigh, as the same old question comes from the mouth of an otherwise well educated and culturally tolerant work colleague. I sympathise with my Muslim friend, jokingly tarred with the unfair brush of the terrorist, and if my enquirers unthinking remark is less hostile than that of the sexist or homophobe it is as casually passed out as ‘perceived wisdom’. So what do Druids do? In this month, which includes the astronomical summer Solstice so revered by Druids ancient and modern, why will so many seek out the old places to witness the rising Sun? Are we really just posh hippies?

At the heart of Druid practice is a wakeful awareness of Nature, of the relationships we craft with the landscapes we inhabit, and a practical relationship with the gods we perceive and honour. It can be as intimate a relationship as between lovers, for there is a love for the land that can be as exquisite as any lovemaking. The Solstice is a time of honouring the star that lights our world, that warms us and makes life not only possible but pleasurable. But celebrating the good light doesn’t mean we align darkness with evil, for in the darkness is the source of creation; the germinating seed in the soil, the child in the mother’s womb. A time for all things – and here is summer. As for who the new Druids are, they are as they were; teachers, healers, poets, law makers, civil leaders, priests, protesters, builders, growers…

Mark Rosher, The Druid Network
South Gloucestershire Faith & Belief Forum